Shota Arveladze under pressure as Hull City seek a change of fortune

Shota Arveladze will be looking to address Hull City’s troubling recent form as they take on Nathan Jones’ Luton Town in Friday night’s EFL fixture on Humberside.

Following their fourth defeat on the bounce at Swansea before the international break, rumours were rife that Arveladze was on the brink of leaving the club. After such a positive start to the season which saw them momentarily lead the Championship table, City have only one win in their last five outings, conceding 11 goals and scoring just one in the process.

After two weeks’ rest from the international break and meeting with Turkish owner Acun Ilicali, Arveladze is hoping that the break will have done him and his players some good as they look to return to winning ways after two 3-0 defeats on the run.

“The break is always generally good, it gives you time, especially in this business. It gives you time to analyse, to assess and the boys a little bit of rest after a heavy schedule.

“I try always to not hide my feelings. I’ve been through many things even here, last year was very tough. There were tough games in a tough situation and when every single point is so crucial, we had ups and downs and my emotions (reflected those).”

With an influx of new players arriving before the transfer deadline and a host of injuries to boot, the wheels have fallen off in recent weeks with City conceding sloppy goals at the back and looking toothless in front of goal.

Having sold League One promotion hero Malik Wilks after struggling to adapt to life in the Championship and wonder kid Keane Lewis-Potter to Premier League Brentford, it is no surprise that the goals have begun to dry up.

Whilst Óscar Estupiñán has been a huge positive with seven goals in the opening ten games, City are close to the bare bones with Benjamin Tetteh nursing a longer-term hamstring injury, and winger Allahyar Sayyadmanesh also missing. Arveladze has been forced to look at within to solve the side’s current woes with teenager Jimmy Simms coming into his consideration after impressing for the under 21’s.

Going back to their 2-1 win over Norwich City in August, the collective spirit at the club had shown much promise that City could be a surprise package in the Championship this season. The alarming run of results has led to a discussion with owner Ilicali, but Arveladze still holds the belief that a change of fortune may not be too far around the corner if his players continue to work at their game.

“Acun wants to hear how we’re going to change things, and that’s what I was looking for, too. They (the players) have done this 20 days ago, they did this when we thought the opposite side would be much, much better than us. Of course, it’s football and sometimes luck can change.

“We’ve been lucky scoring rebounds and then the luck changes again. It’s about us going again and this not ending before it ends.”

Luton Town have had an indifferent start to the new campaign following their appearance in last season’s playoff semi-finals. However, an encouraging 2-0 win over Blackburn Rovers will provide the Hatters with plenty of impetus to find greater consistency against the struggling Tigers. However, Nathan Jones was quick to push aside any complacency in his camp.

“I see Hull as another tough Championship game, I’d be foolish to do anything other than that. Whatever they do, whatever strengths they have we know about, what they can bring, they’ve got a striker who’s the top scorer in the league, so it’s a real tough game.

“It’s a tough place to go and a tough game, we’ve had to be really good to win, we’ve won the last two up there and I’d like to make that three, but it will be a totally different game to last year and a totally different one to when Grant McCann was in charge, so I see them only as a real tough Championship game and I’d be an idiot to say anything different.”

With Evan Horvath and Amari’i Bell returning from international duty, Jones will be looking to build on his side’s two-game unbeaten stint with a victory that could see them move into the top six.

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